Sunday, April 20, 2008

HI

So what's been happening. I flew out join a ship in Malta and arrived at the Hotel Casstille at about half two in the morning. I was a little worried as I walked into reception as it looked a bit tired and Sydney Greenstreet from the film Cassablanca was behind the desk. But it was in the middle of the night and hey, I was only going to sleep a few hours and then go to the ship.As I opened the door of the room the smell hit me. Dead body?...... animal?......or just piss. There was a little single bed with an old quilt on it. A dilapidated dressing table and a standard lamp with a squinty lamp shade on it cowered in the corner. The swirley carpet had stains and was well worn. I looked in the toilet. An old gag came to mind. "Do you have a good memory for faces, asked the landlady. "Why" I said. "Cause there's no mirror in the bathroom". I decided not to take my clothes off and I pulled back the quilt and lay on top of the bed. The only thing it didn't have was the red flashing light shining in through the window which is in all the old movies. As I lay there I thought of the conversation I had with my old mate Ross King, a few hours before. He was in Las Vagas sitting on the balcony of the Ritz Carlton over looking the lake. He was drinking champagne with his new 23 year old girlfriend, and I thought...where did it all go wrong.I woke up every hour on the hour to the sound of the church clock which was situated in my wardrobe.When I eventually went up stairs to the breakfast room to eat my slice of toast and coffee from a flask I rehearsed what I was going to say to the Port Agent for putting me in place like this. I was going to tell him a thing or two. When he arrived he couldn't speak a word of English so that was the end of that. My mobile had no charge and I had forgotten my charger, so I had to go into a phone box for the first time in 20 years to phone my wife. I related my story and she laughed. ..... "What a fucking liberty"I joined the ship (incidentally it was a company I hadn't worked for before) and everything was fine from there on in.So all you avid blog readers, as you see ,show business isn't always glamorous.Bye